Just the Two of Us
by Mazzie May
Summary: Ashelia and Azelas. Princess and Captain. Ashe and Vossler. But before all of that, she was just a little girl who treated her sworn knight like her imaginary friend. A collection of stories about a time long ago, in no particular order
1. Feel Better

**Author's Note: Damned Plot Bunnies. I have to get this down or I won't be able to sleep**

**Genre: General/slight angst/fluff  
Rating: Kplus  
Characters: Ashe/Vossler friendship  
Summary: Because it was not Basch who fought her nightmares, but Vossler.**

* * *

**Feel Better**  
_By: Mazzie May_

Little Ashe wipes furiously at her eyes in effort to keep the tears of fear from making their hot way down her flushed face.

_Stupid Victoria_, she thinks spitefully. The prissy noble girl two years her senior had told Little Ashe a frightening rumor that the Child Snatcher from Bhujerba has made the short trip to Dalmasca, to Rabenaster, and has been seen near the castle walls.

Now, Little Ashe knows this to be rubbish, but she'll be _damned_ (without telling her parents, of course, because Little Ashe Princesses did not say that word) if the shadow on her balcony did not resemble Victoria's crude drawing. Little Ashe had simply rolled over, yawned, opened her eyes and there it was. She's very proud of herself for not screaming, but now she wonders if she should have. Maybe that would've brought someone.

She shakes her head quickly. No! If she screams, it might make its move! She'll have to go get help on her own. As she begins to quietly and slowly push the sheets away, she sniffs. Well, not _help_, because that would mean the Victoria had been telling the truth. She'll just get someone to _check_, to prove Victoria wrong. She nods to herself. Yes, that's exactly what she's doing.

Her little blonde curls sway as she tip-toes in long strides and it's distracting, and why the heck is her nightgown so _loud?_ It's made out of something soft, but heavy and it makes nose when she moves. She looks back at the window. It's still there. She sighs, though it's hard to say if it was a sigh of relief or disappointment.

She makes it to the door in a little over a minute but it feels like the longest minute of her life. Carefully, Little Ashe takes hold of the large white gold handle and turns it, cringing at the extreme and definite sound the locks make. She turns back to the glass doors and is startled to find the shadow gone.

The door open only a crack, she squints at her balcony, trying to find it when the clock chimes loudly that the twenty-third hour of the day was beginning. With a shriek, she throws open the door and darts out and to the right, not caring that the king's and queen's chambers were far away to the left, even though she really, _really_ wants her mother.

She's nearly to the stairs when someone grabs her arm and she screams again.

"Princess!" The owner of the voice whirls her around and because he's on one knee she's nearly eye level with her savoir. "Princess, what's wrong?"

She stops struggling and says, "Vossler!" before bursting in tears. He takes her by the shoulders and shakes her a little, making her look at him. She hasn't seen him this concerned since the time she got a little carried away during her horse back riding lessons and rode off into the desert, forcing him to ride after her.

"What is it? What's happened?"

Little Ashe sniffs and hiccups, making broken sentences. "On my buh-buh-balcony…" She sobs again.

Vossler's jaw clenches and he pales just a bit, imaging some low-level assassin, come to slay the heir to the thrown. Of course, Little Ashe doesn't share the thought process and becomes more terrified, thinking that,_ he knows about the Child Snatcher and he didn't think it could get into the castle, and oh, man, Victoria was right!_ and begins to cry harder.

"Who?" Vossler asks, one hand dropped away from her shoulder, and resting against the hilt of his sword. By now, a few guards have heard her cries and have come to investigate. Vossler makes the gesture for _intruder_ (Ashe recognizes it), and the guards suck in their breath through their teeth.

She sniffs. "Cha-Child Snatcher." They all stare at her for a moment before Vossler's head snaps back as if he's been slapped and the guards let out shaky laughs. Ashe wipes at her face as he waves them away with a sigh. Blinking, she watches them go. "Where are they leaving to?"

He stands and she takes his hand and they begin to head back towards her room. "Wuh-what about the Child Snat-Snatcher?" Even though she's stopped crying, she's still hiccupping. Vossler glares exasperatedly down the hall, waving off any servant and guard that have wandered over due to her screaming.

"Everything will be fine," he says. She frowns up at him and Vossler smiles that smile she's only ever seen when he speaks with her. "I am not a child, Princess, it will not snatch me."

She feels better.

But not better enough to go into the room with him and waits just outside the door with her nanny, explaining the story that Victoria had told her earlier in the day as Vossler searches her balcony, closet, amour, hope chest and beneath her bed. Her nanny blushes something shameful and apologies to Vossler, promising that the girl will get the proper scolding she deserves for such an upset.

That makes Little Ashe feel better, too.

After three thorough investigations of her room, her nanny excuses herself to inform Victoria's family of aforementioned nonsense and Little Ashe steps out of the hallway.

Vossler demonstrates several times that the lock on her glass doors and windows are secure. She stares up at him with big, gray eyes that reveal that she's only six and just not old enough to understand what he's telling her.

He sighs, but smiles, promising to stay in her room for the rest of the night and the night after that and as many nights as necessary until she feels better.

It only takes three nights for Little Ashe to feel better, but she doesn't tell him that.

--

Not-so-little Ashe knows that the shadow that passes over the window is not the Child Snatcher and she's not a child anymore so she has nothing to fear, but that does not stop her staring intently at the window for two hours.

She needs her rest, she knows she does. Vayne is making his grand entrance tomorrow—_or is it today now? What time is it?_—and that's when the Resistance will be making their move. But that shadow… She narrows her eyes. _Stupid Victoria, stupid _me.

The metal and wood door opens slowly, just a bit, just enough for someone to look around the room. "Princess, you must sleep," Vossler says. She waves him in.

Closing the door, he faces her. "Are you nervous for today?" Ah, so it _is_ today. She winces, shaking her head.

"Vossler…" She begins to finger the sheets, a nervous habit. He waits patiently. Always, eternally. It makes her smile. "Do you remember the Child Snatcher?"

He stares at her for a moment, head tilting slightly away, unsure of what she's asking. She shifts her eyes to the window and then down at her hands, bashfully, shamefully.

There is a sigh that is almost a laugh and she watches him walk to her window, check the lock, move to her closest, search inside, drop to his knees, look underneath the bed. He does it three times in that order before settling on the side of her bed.

Vossler smiles that smile she's only ever seen when he speaks with her and promises to stay in her room for the rest of the night and the night after that and as many nights as necessary until she feels better.

It only takes a few minutes for her to feel better, but she doesn't tell him that.

--

Looking back on everything now, staring out into the darkness from the bridge that leads to Jahara, Ashe honestly wishes had.

* * *

**Author's Note: Seriously, guys. Basch did not watch over Ashe when she was a kid. I know a lot of people like to think that, but nay. Vossler was her sworn protector and had been for a long, long time before the game started. Hell, Landis didn't even get oblitered until, like, what did the Beastiary facts say? Six years prior to Ashe and Rasler's wedding? So... yeah. Go Vossler/Little Ashe cute fluffy bunny frienship fics! Yay!**

**R&R please, any and all commentary appreciated.**


	2. Seperate

**Author's Note: Go platonic Vossler/Ashe! Oh, and, uh, because I haven't been doing this... SPOILERS FOR THE _SHIVA_!! You have been warned.  
**

**Story Rating: K  
Genre: Drama/Angst  
Characters: Vossler, Ashe  
Pairings: implied Ashe/Rasler, platonic Ashe, Vossler  
Summary: In many fairy tales, every princess always has a knight. Shame about reality...**

* * *

**Seperate**  
_By: Mazzie May_

She cries furiously on the thick red carpeting that leads the King and Queen's thrones. She hits the floor with little balled fists with more might than her age should allow and screams as though she's being slain. She's shaken her head so much, her hair's come loose from the bows and clips that held it in place and tight curls spring and bounce around her flushed face. Awkwardly on her knees, her dress has wrinkled and torn in one place.

Ashelia is upset.

Her parents exchange looks of absolute concern for their little princess has never acted this way before. Ashe is such a well-behaved child, especially for royalty; most girls and boys around her rank are very full of themselves, very selfish and very mean. Though Ashe may be a little expectant of some things, she's more thankful than anything else. She's happy she's so fortunate to have both her parents, well taken care of, educated. It just so happens that all of that is possible because of her place in the castle.

She's well mannered, and rarely ever rejects or scowls what is presented before her. In fact, her outbursts are so rare, that when she does have them, she isn't punished. Usually, it's because the circumstances are indeed unfair and as an apology, her parents allow the fits to pass. The system seems to have worked well for them…

…until now.

None have ever seen her so violently against something. In a weak attempt to get her under control, Raminas tries, "Ashelia, we were under the impression your engagement to Prince Nabradia was well received."

She coughs. "It is!"

"So, the ill source is not Lord Rasler?" her mother asked gently.

"No, no! Nothing's wrong with Rasler!" She's shrieking again and all the guards shift nervously unsure of what to do.

Her mother wrings her hands. "Then, my darling, what has you so upset?"

She chokes on air and her nanny rushes to her side. Ashe pushes her angrily away, slapping at the woman's nervous hands. "I'm not moving to Nabradia!"

Raminas falls back into his large chair and his queen bites her lip. He searches for something in his mind, but finds nothing. "But yesterday—"

"I was packing," Ashe says, picking at the tear in her yellow dress. "I asked Vossler what he would pack." Her lower lip began to tremble as she looked up at her parents. "And do you know what he said?"

_Oh…_Raminas shares a look with one of his newest guard captains, a Landisian refugee with a lot of promise named Fon Rosenburg, and he nods in understanding, quietly exiting the throne room in order to seek Vossler out.

"He said he wuh-wasn't coming with me!" She's hiccupping again. "He said thu-thu-that he cuh-can't come wuh-with me!" She cries the last part and falls forward, hugging the floor, crying into the carpet.

Ashe isn't anti-social but there are many children that are jealous and envious of her position and ignore her as a result. Which is all right to Ashe because she has Vossler. If she wasn't invited to garden parties, that was just fine with her, allowing her to pester Vossler into reading her a story. Her parents and she get along well, but they're busy often, which is okay, too, because if they're not there, Vossler will sit down and eat dinner with her. She has other family as well, but all have lives that don't let them around her often, and even though it makes her a little sad, over the years, Vossler's proven to be all the family she'll ever need. Whether he knows it or not.

And she's just now found out they must separate? No wonder she's so upset. His queen looks to him and they both think the same thing, _We can't fault her for this_, Raminas knows they're too soft of parents but wouldn't want it any other way.

"You're right, Ashelia, he cannot accompany you," he says as understanding as he can.

"Darling…" Her mother pushes away from her throne slowly, her illness making her a little weak. Carefully, she moves down the stairs, crouching beside her devastated daughter. "Vossler will be fine without you. He'll be—"

"He'll be captain!" Ashe says angrily, pushing herself up a little. "Captains go to war! Captains get hurt, they _die_! Vossler can't die!" And she's crying again, only this time she's allowed her mother to pull her on to her lap.

Her mother smoothes her hair. "Vossler is very skilled. He will not die."

"He might not, but I will," she mumbles into her mother's arm. "Who will spend time with me?"

"Prince Nabradia?"

Ashe pushed herself back up. "No! If I can't take Vossler to Nabradia with me, then I won't go!" She looks to her father. "I'll go to somewhere I can take him."

Raminas sighs, promising himself that if they ever have another daughter, he'll change out her protector regularly so she won't get so attached. "Vossler cannot follow you outside of Dalmasca, Ashelia. Once you marry a prince, you are Princess of that country. Vossler is a Dalmascan knight."

"Then I won't leave." Her statement is deadpanned, matter-of-fact and she means it.

Raminas and his wife stare at each other. What were they to do? Ashe is a very good girl, but she's also determined; she might make a scene in Nabradia just to be sent home. She was supposed to be sent off to Nabradia in the morning so she could learn all the ways and customs (though they weren't that far from Dalmasca's) and then she and Rasler would be married. The two sister countries joined together before their children were fourteen. It is perfect, flawless. How could this beautiful five year old do this?

Fon Rosenburg returns with a perplexed and slightly embarrassed Vossler en toe. He deeply apologies to the king and queen before gathering Ashe up in his arms when she reaches for him and then promptly excuses them both.

After the door closes Raminas looks at his wife. "How long do you suppose it would take for her to come to terms with this?"

The queen stares out the window for a long moment. "How long do you suppose we could stall the wedding for?"

--

Two weeks, five days, nineteen hours and thirty-two point eight seconds after Ashelia's seventeenth birthday, her wedding with Prince Rasler Heios Nabradia begins.

Ashe has never been to Nabradia, and Vossler is now a captain.

--

Two years, three months, one week, four days, twenty-one hours and fifty-one point nine seconds after Ashe's seventeenth birthday, the battle ship cruiser _Shiva_ explodes.

Ashe can never go to Nabradia, and all of her younger self's desperate attempts to stay with Vossler all seem for naught.

They were destined to seperate.

* * *

**Author's Note: Don't know why I'm so obssessed with this. I mean, yeah, it's cute, but I'm willing to bet money Ashe was a very, very well-behaved little girl, very much unlike me; I was (is?) a spoiled brat and these Vossler/Ashe fics that take place way in the past are going to be few. Nutters. Ah, well, I'll do what I can with what I've got. Hysterical Little Ashe is fun to write. I got the little girl who lives in the apartment below me to throw a fit in the back yard so I could get a good feel for it, despite the lack of detail presented here. I gave her a Snickers bar for her trouble. Her name is Tamra and she's got the biggest gray/hazel eyes I've ever seen.  
**

**R&R please, any and all commentary appreciated.**


	3. Flowers

**Author's Note: This time, from Vossler's side**

**Genre: general/angst  
Rating: Kplus  
Characters: platonic Vossler/Ashe  
Summary: Physical, metaphorical... for a princess to be inured, her knight's heart is injured, too.  
**

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**Just the Two of Us**  
Chapter Three: Flowers  
_By: Mazzie May_

Most people look at the desert and think, "oh, good god." Most people think of a desert with dread and distaste. Things that are barren and dry and far too hot are compared to it. Most people hate it.

But not the people of the desert. They can find the beauty in it with so little effort. Especially Queen Dalmasca. Red Cactus blossoms and blue and white field flowers that dot the dry patches of yellowy vegetation and cluster uselessly around small springs are truly something she finds lovely.

Little Ashe agrees as she wanders away from her mother's desert manor that is half built into the cliff side of the Easternsand. Well, she's not too little nowadays; ten years old, she piles her waist length curls on top of her head and ties several black ribbons around the handful. When she drops her arms, what remains is a very messy plait, with escaped messes touching her neck and shoulders. It bobs with her as she holds up her dress, wading through the weeds towards the rocks.

Vossler is behind her, but more to the side. Strapped within metal, the heat is no comfort to him. Dalmascan armor is airy to bring comfort to the soldiers but officers of rank, like Vossler, get to wear extra. He follows her without question, though he tries to remain near the shade.

A small time later, Little Ashe carries around a wild flower bouquet and struggles against her long dress as she attempts to make her way onto the rocks. She doesn't expect him to follow her, seeing as how he'd be directly beneath the sun, and for a little while he doesn't.

She chatters on to him as she hops from one rock to another and he interrupts her with warnings until he admits that remaining in the shade is selfish of him and finally begins the climb after her. She turns quickly to tell him that she's fine, when her dress swings wide and throws her off balance. Vossler's two rocks away and Ashe hits the hard sand with a _thud_ and a _snap_, desert flowers falling slowly around her.

--

Despite everything she's been through, that broken leg is by far the worst physical injury she's ever received under his care.

Vossler couldn't catch her then, and as Ashe is lead away to her cell, he lets her fall now.

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**Author's Note: Because Vossler needed some love. Regardless the horrible, depressing love that it is. I imagine that Ashe forgave him for the leg thing--was probably never mad at him--but she won't let the betrayl go so quickly. I also imagine he knows it, and we're back to the hurting heart thing. **

**R&R please, any commentary apprieciated **


	4. Tradition

Author's Note: wtf, why can't I bold, italices, cut or paste, ff dot net? Jesus Christ... nothing's formating!!

Genre: angst/seasonal  
Rating: Kplus  
Characters: Ashe, Vossler, ft Rasler and B'nargin Dalmasca family  
Summary: Crystmas is time for friends and family. And those who are closer than family.

* * *

Just the Two of Us  
By: Mazzie May  
Tradition

At six years on Earth, Ashelia sits on her on the floor leaning against her father's leg. Her eldest brother sits on one knee next to her mother, passing out the presents she hands him. Her older but still young brothers fidget happily, wondering what could be in the boxes.

It was family tradition, spending Crystmas together.

Vossler hovers somewhere along the back wall near the door, nodding with an awkward smile when Ashelia turns to show him whatever it was she unwrapped and casts a watchful eye over to the queen when she coughs.

--

The queen passes on. Life goes on.

Again, they gather around the tree, though her two older-in-the-middle brothers had married into other countries and couldn't join them. Ashe continues to perch next to her father.

But Vossler's moved from the wall to the back of the couch. Two years past, but the children must be monitored for signs of the Illness. He gravitats towards the princess especially.

--

Ashelia's baby brother is the only one who shows signs on becoming ill.

Her other brothers have married and gone away, save her oldest. Her father and she sit in single chairs and the heir to the thrown takes up the couch with his wife. Despite the emptiness, they all manage to smile and enjoy their gifts.

Vossler stands next to her chair and moves just a bit closer when she shivers, not because of the temperature, but something colder.

--

Rasler joins them this year.

Again, her brother, his wife, and now their child take up the cushions, leaving Raminas, Rasler and herself to sit in the singles, albeit Ashe and Rasler's are pushed together.

When they say a small pray for those who couldn't join them and those who were lost, Rasler takes her hand to comfort her. But she'd reached for Vossler's first.

--

That was the only Christmas she spent with Rasler.

And the last with her father, brother and his family.

Dethroned and dead to the world, she sits next to a sad little plant wrapped in gold garland, the only light coming from the tall candle to her right. She sits on the floor, wrapped in a thin blanket.

Vossler sits next to her and she leans against him. Such actions are not permitted between a knight and his charge, nor a princess and her guardian. But seeing as how she's no longer a princess and he has no charge, such comfort should be alright just this once. After all, it was tradition to spend this day with a loved one.

--

Ashe sits quietly in the family room.

She's alone. No one else is there, not even ghosts. Despite all the people who came and went, there had always been one constant. The tradition. But now, she'd beging a new one.

It was her first Crystmas back in the castle and her first without Vossler.

She'd better get used to it:

It wouldn't be the last.

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Author's Note: Why the hell won't this stupid site let me format anything, I will destory everything it knows and loves dammit. In other news, here's my holiday fic. I'm so sorry I haven't written anything in a while. Truth is, I have plenty done, I just think it's all bad. It took some minor hounding from a fellow writter to get me to post anything at all, so thank you to her. Please enjoy sad/cute platonic Vossle/Ashe, just in time to depress Sanata to the point that he won't eat my cookies.

R&R please, any and all commentay appreciated.


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